Return-Path: Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org via listexpand id S1762894AbXIZWeP (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:34:15 -0400 Received: (majordomo@vger.kernel.org) by vger.kernel.org id S1756031AbXIZWd7 (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:33:59 -0400 Received: from smtp2.linux-foundation.org ([207.189.120.14]:40331 "EHLO smtp2.linux-foundation.org" rhost-flags-OK-OK-OK-OK) by vger.kernel.org with ESMTP id S1752344AbXIZWd6 (ORCPT ); Wed, 26 Sep 2007 18:33:58 -0400 Date: Wed, 26 Sep 2007 15:33:30 -0700 From: Stephen Hemminger To: Jan Engelhardt Cc: Oleg Verych , Jan Beulich , bridge@lists.linux-foundation.org, linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Subject: Re: why network devices don't do reference counting? (Re: [PATCH] Module use count must be updated as bridges are created/destroyed) Message-ID: <20070926153330.77aade4d@freepuppy.rosehill> In-Reply-To: References: <46FA2C17.76E4.0078.0@novell.com> <20070926083705.6bc65ea5@fujitsu-loaner> <20070926140608.6e6d3d0c@freepuppy.rosehill> Organization: Linux Foundation X-Mailer: Claws Mail 3.0.0 (GTK+ 2.10.14; x86_64-redhat-linux-gnu) Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: linux-kernel-owner@vger.kernel.org X-Mailing-List: linux-kernel@vger.kernel.org Content-Length: 1311 Lines: 33 On Thu, 27 Sep 2007 00:18:55 +0200 (CEST) Jan Engelhardt wrote: > > On Sep 26 2007 14:06, Stephen Hemminger wrote: > >> > > >> > No, network devices don't do reference counting. > >> > >> Could you explain why, please? > >> > >> After `udevd` on boot loads lots of unused crap, i surrendered, and use > >> $(rmmod `lsmod | just first column`). Networing bravely wipes away. OK, > >> there are lots of configs: udev, hotplug, modprobe, that somebody might > >> like to fix. But it came to the end with me. I just don't care. So, > >> please answer :) > > > >For hotplug and other reasons, the network developers decided that being > >able to remove a network module at any time was a good thing. It works. > > Except that for ipv6.ko, it's all opposite. After modprobe, > it already got a refcount like 8 and you're wondering how > to get rid of that. ipv6 is not a network driver, it is a protocol. You might be able to remove it if you zap all the routes and applications, ... -- Stephen Hemminger - To unsubscribe from this list: send the line "unsubscribe linux-kernel" in the body of a message to majordomo@vger.kernel.org More majordomo info at http://vger.kernel.org/majordomo-info.html Please read the FAQ at http://www.tux.org/lkml/